The Street named Houston one of the cities that were poised for greatness in 2012. Do you think we will be on this list for 2013?

The Street named Houston one of the cities that were poised for greatness in 2012. Do you think we will be on this list for 2013?

Photo: Smiley N. Pool

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Prize-winning recycling plan could start in 2 years

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Houston's plan to increase its dismal recycling rate fivefold got a boost Wednesday, when Mayor Annise Parker accepted a $1 million prize from Bloomberg Philanthropies as part of the Mayors Challenge, a contest rewarding innovation in American cities.

The city's "One Bin for All" idea would allow residents to mix trash, recyclables, yard clippings, food and other waste in a single container, to be automatically sorted at a first-of-its-kind $100 million plant to be built and run by a private firm. The city plans next month to issue a request for proposals from companies interested in the plan, with construction starting as early as next year.

"Even with extensive education, easily available single-stream and in cities where you actually have an economic incentive - which we do not since we don't charge separately for garbage - you don't achieve the recycling rates that would be available under this technology," Parker said. "And those of us who care about recycling have had the dilemma: You're standing with something in your hand and you're looking, 'Do I put it in the bin that says recycling, the bin that says compost, or the bin that says garbage?' This takes that decision away and automates it."

If all goes according to plan, in two years the city's household recycling rate could jump from 14 percent to as much as 75 percent. Instead of sending four rounds of trucks door to door retrieving trash, recycling, yard waste and heavy trash, Houston may send one - cutting vehicle emissions, miles on the fleet and strain on city roads, not to mention operating costs and $13 million in annual landfill fees.

It would be a dramatic shift for a city in which a third of households cannot even recycle at the curb today, with another third unable to recycle glass curbside. Just a third of residents have single-stream, the green 96-gallon bins that take all recyclables.

Houston aims to accomplish this turnaround without any added cost to residents or the city.

The technologies to sort and process the materials are proven, said city sustainability director Laura Spanjian. Companies will be willing to build and operate such a plant, she said, because they'll have a contract giving them the right to resell up to three-quarters of all waste generated by the nation's fourth-largest city.

Tyson Sowell of Texas Campaign for the Environment, however, called the idea "anti-recycling" and a "pipe dream." His group thinks the city will ultimately have to invest in the plant, and believes the technologies are unproven. Single-stream, composting and other such methods work, he said.

Spanjian said the one-bin plan is supported by the Environmental Defense Fund, Clinton Climate Initiative, Keep Houston Beautiful and other environmental groups.

Drew Sones, who retired a decade ago from running Los Angeles' solid waste operations, said new sorting technology is already working. Houston's proposal, he said, "has all the components that are being used today. It's not like a black box: 'Trust us, we can do this.'"

Sones set up Los Angeles' current residential recycling system, with black bins for trash, blue for recycling and green for yard waste. If he had his old job today, Sones said, he would use Houston's approach. "People don't recycle everything or don't recycle at all, don't participate," he said. "Even if you've got a three-can system, it's worth it to take that black bin through the process."

It's not clear what proposals Houston will receive, but one option could see biomass - yard and food waste, even clothing and plastics - converted into biofuels through a process such as that used by CRI Catalyst Company, a Houston subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell whose Alan Del Paggio has been in talks with city officials.

"We're well on our way to demonstrate to the world that this is not just wishful thinking but, in fact, this is technical reality and economic reality," he said.

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